Avoiding Wuyang, Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong went straight toward Yuancheng. To their surprise, Yuwen Huaji’s defeated troops also took the same retreat route. Moreover, along the way they wantonly looted, burned, killed and plundered Yuancheng, Shenxian, and Wushui, three cities north of Xucheng, as well as the neighboring villages, so that the common people were fleeing toward the Great River or running away toward the mountain area. Unfortunately another snowstorm hit, so that not a few refugees froze to death along the way; dead bodies filled the wilderness, making it unbearable to watch.
When they came across the straggling disbanded soldiers who burned the village and robbed the grains, the two boys showed no mercy; they made their move to wipe them out, and confiscated their money and valuables to be used entirely to aid the refugees, with the hope that they could have a good life outside the Wei border. Therefore, by the time they were outside of the city of Xucheng, the two were without a wen to their name.
Kou Zhong did not shy away from his ‘Divine Doctor’ nature; he took out the nine needles given by Sha Shijing, and with Xu Ziling’s assistance, he used the Secret to Long Life qi to treat the refugees who suffered from illnesses that were cold in nature.
The big snow temporarily alleviated the Wei Army’s plight, since the Tang Army was unable to pursue relentlessly at their tail. However, everybody knew that Yuwen Huaji’s great momentum has gone; otherwise, how could he let his own troops to cruelly oppress local cities and villages, and thus distancing themselves from the heart of the people – and not subjecting the soldiers to military discipline, repeating the heinous atrocity of the Sui army in the past that made one’s hair stand up in anger?
Based on their observation, the two boys knew that when the Wei Army was retreating in defeat back to Xucheng, along the way more and more of them were leaving their posts to flee and plunder. Those who were able to follow Yuwen Huaji returning to Xucheng were perhaps only the remainder of Yuwen Huaji’s disciples and personal guards.
The two boys came to the top of a hill, overlooking the Wei capital, Xucheng, on the east. Of all the cities they saw along the way, this city was the biggest in scale, the city walls were tall and thick, with a moat around it. Although it could not be compared to Luoyang, Chang’an, those kinds of big cities, it still served a certain defensive function.
From time to time, the Wei Army was going back and forth on the official road leading into Xucheng, but they no longer saw any fleeing refugees; naturally there were no traveling merchants or tourists even more.
The sky overhead was covered densely in dark clouds, apparently another big snow was coming. The two were hiding behind an underbrush, quietly waiting for the night. With his eyes fixed on Xucheng, Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “As soon as we are inside the city, we must look for Old Hou. As long as we could clearly grasp Yuwen Huagu’s whereabouts, we’ll watch for an opportunity to go all-out to kill him, and then we’ll find a place to drink to celebrate.”
Shaking his head, Xu Ziling said, “I really don’t understand what Yuwen Huagu is thinking in his thick head. Before, after assassinating Emperor Yang, when he was leading his troops returning to the north, he was also looting along the way, making himself infamous, not enjoying popular support. And now he is getting worse. I wonder if his true character makes it so, or is there another reason?”
Recalling the dismal, cold tragic situation he was witnessing along the way, Kou Zhong said dejectedly, “Yuwen Huagu directly inherited Yang Guang’s army, also directly inherited the old Sui Army’s ruthlessness and violence, who made brutality toward common people to fatten themselves a common practice. If Yuwen Huagu came out as the victor in his war against Li Mi, he might use this prestige to consolidate his troops, yet clearly Laotianye did not look with favor at him, and did not give him this opportunity. It was after the battle with Li Mi that he came to attack our Liangdu and suffered big defeat, Yuwen Huagu practically did not have any chance to turn his luck around.”
And then he said, “You see, forget about this kind of city cannot compare to Chang’an or Luoyang, even Liangdu is superior to it. Since he already lost popular support while also lacks favorable location, how long do you think he can last?”
Xu Ziling only sighed.
Astonished, Kou Zhong asked, “What are you thinking?”
Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling said, “Have you ever thought that such day will come to Yuwen Huagu?”
His remark provoked emotional stirring in Kou Zhong’s mind. He nodded and said, “You are right. Whether it was him chasing to kill us and Niang in the past, or later on him committing the crime of murdering his superior by assassinating Emperor Yang, his arrogance soared to the heavens, acting as if he considers himself unexcelled in the world; I’m afraid even he himself never thought that such the-path-exhausted, the-end-of-the-road day would come. Although avenging Niang is something that we must do, I always feel a bit disgusted as well.”
The two boys were outstanding heroes who were accustomed to deal with power and evil forces; but taking advantage of somebody’s precarious position, throwing stones at somebody who fell down a well like this, this would be the first time that they were trying to do. Were it not for Fu Junchuo’s blood debt must be avenged, perhaps they would turn on their heels.
Xu Ziling’s pair of eyes was flashing with sharp light, he spoke heavily, “There’s no limit to the bad things that Yuwen Huagu has done; today he is strung through and filled with evil, his death should not be begrudged! Don’t forget that Yan Laoda also died because of him. I don’t know how many people in Yangzhou were harmed by him. Killing him, the Wei State will melt like ice and break like tiles; perhaps we can even prevent common people from receiving the suffering of war. Ay! This is just my wishful thinking.”
Kou Zhong only needed to think about the tree fallen, the monkeys scattered, the dreadful situation of the troops roaming all over the place, burning and looting, and he understood Xu Ziling’s feeling immediately.
Suddenly a group of Wei Army soldiers, approximately two hundred men, came out from the open city gate. Just by looking at how they were dressed, it was obvious that these soldiers were going on a long-distance journey, heading to the west.
“They must be going west to check the Tang Army’s situation,” Kou Zhong said.
“Do you recognize any of them?” Xu Ziling asked.
Focusing his eyes, Kou Zhong looked, and then said, “Turns out the leader is Yuwen Shiji. Shall we block their way and ambush them in surprise attack, to give them forewarning that the lion and the leopard hunting the sheep are going to honor them with our presence?”
Sneering, Xu Ziling responded, “Are you confident that you can deal with two-hundred-strong cavalry in the wilderness?”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Just let them go then!”
“Huh?” Xu Ziling exclaimed. He saw Yuwen Shiji’s troops suddenly deviated from the official road. Bypassing their hill, they turned north from the other side.
Shaken, Kou Zhong said, “Yuwen Huagu sends Yuwen Shiji to surrender to Dou Jiande! Otherwise, why didn’t they go out of the city via the northern gate? It is precisely to fool the people’s eyes and ears.”
Xu Ziling nodded in agreement. As the former great general of the Sui, the first time Li Yuan entered Chang’an, he still supported the old Sui’s imperial clan; although he directly suppressed Yuwen Huaji’s military banner, both in terms of feeling and reason, it was still difficult to accept Yuwen Huaji’s surrender. But Dou Jiande did not have this psychological barrier; this was Yuwen Huaji’s only way to survive.
Xu Ziling spoke heavily, “We must, before Dou Jiande’s main force moving south, slaughter Yuwen Huagu first.”
The sky gradually darkened, dots of snowflakes started to drop from the sky.
The two boys were about to move, but while the city gate was still wide open, the suspension bridge had not been raised, four or five men were rushing out. The guards on the tower immediately released arrows. The escapees had not crossed the hanging bridge when they were already shot and fell down like the victims of murder tragedy. Watching this, the two boys’ eyes were about to split, yet they were clearly in no position to help.
And then some of the guards rushed out and tossed the dead bodies into the moat. Afterwards, as if nothing had happened, they returned into the city and raised the bridge and closed the gate.
Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “Let’s go to demand repayment!”
Xucheng was grim; nine out of ten houses were empty. The shops closed their doors; the barely remaining inhabitants were also hiding inside their houses. Not only there was no pedestrian on the street, even patrolling troops were scarce. No one cleaned the streets from snow. In the side streets and narrow alleys, the lanterns were dark, and the fire was black even more. Some residential houses and commercial shops showed the sign of being robbed and looted.
The two entered the city by jumping over the wall. They leaped onto the top of the roof of a residential building to watch the situation.
Sweeping his gaze around, Kou Zhong spoke in low voice, “In the Weixian battle, Yuwen Huagu’s troops must be broken and suffered serious damage, resulting in not enough manpower to guard their capital, otherwise, merely entering the city, we would have to go through a lot of trouble.”
Xu Ziling’s eyes fell onto the river course passing through the heart of the city, with its gentle twists and turns. The houses and bridges were built on both sides, following the curve of the approximately three-zhang wide river course. Under the snowflakes flying in the air, there were only a few dots of light; it was quite lifeless. He mused inwardly that during the flourishing days of peace and security, this city must have its unique charm, but now it only looked like a seriously ill person on his deathbed, struggling to survive until his last breath.
He sighed lightly and said, “Basically the morale is lacking, there is no will to fight at all. Those who are willing to stay with Yuwen Huagu in life or death are only Yuwen Clan’s younger generations, disciples and soldiers.”
Kou Zhong said, “Ling Shao, please wait here for a moment, Xiaodi will be back soon.”
Quickly flipped down from the roof, he disappeared into the long dark street.
This side of the street was lined with pine trees. Under the rain of snow, plus the quiet-like-ghost-domain long street, it looked indescribably bleak, wretched, and desolate. The snow accumulation on the pine branches looked like it was skewered by the pine needles, looking exactly like a bunch of white thorns trying to climb up the tree.
Xu Ziling could not help thinking back to the touching scene in the past, where he was rushing along on the snowy ground side-by-side with Shi Feixuan, hurrying to rescue Lei Jiuzhi. And then his memory brought him to the moment after Shi Zhixuan snatched the Demonic Emperor Relics, her remark toward the two boys was brimming with severing-all-relations-with-them overtone, before she simply left without paying them any attention.
He took a deep breath, sucking in the cold air into his lungs, while continued to recall the deep memory winding around his mind. In this transition time from the old dynasty to the new one, the era of conflict where the warlords vying for supremacy struggled against each other, contending for hegemony, the world was no longer a happy place. It was full of killing or being killed situation, people struggling for survival, people aggressively trying to expand their territory with crafty plots and machinations, with bloody methods, by committing all manner of crimes. Forget about friends falling out with each other, even father and son, older and younger brothers also wanted to put their next of kin to death just because of their ambition.
In the face of this lonely city’s desolate-and-cold final-days scene, he suddenly felt that all fame and profit, all power, had no meaning, no value at all.
In his brain appeared the beautiful scenery of beyond the Great Wall that Ba Fenghan described, the uninhabited prairie spanning thousands of li like the ocean. Inwardly he thought that only by going there, by being in the prairie and desert – would he be able to forget all these things. However, wouldn’t this kind of escapism be too pessimistic? But then he thought that even if he stayed here, what could he do? Should he help Kou Zhong conquering the world? Wouldn’t that mean he was placing himself right in the middle of the power struggle and the massacre? Only by being outside the region, isolated from the news of the Central Plains would he be able to avoid everything – including Shi Feixuan, with whom gratitude and grudges were difficult to separate.
Xu Ziling sighed inwardly. He had a faint feeling that his desire to go far away, to shun the world, still contained a complicated, contradictory feeling to make reprisals against Shi Feixuan.
Suddenly the alarm went off in his heart. Looking at the direction of the city wall, he saw a female figure leaping down like a ghost from the top of the wall. Her shenfa was fast and nimble, comparable to top-ranking martial art masters. Her figure and posture were also graceful, almost flawless. In the blink of an eye she disappeared in the distant darkness.
Although Xu Ziling was unable to see the woman’s face, a familiar feeling welled up in his heart. But he was so sure that he had never seen her before; his heart was bewildered with uncertainty.
A moment later Kou Zhong returned to his side and excitedly said, “I found the secret mark left by Xiao Hou!”
Xu Ziling told him what he just saw.
Astonished, Kou Zhong said, “Which family’s Guniang has such an outstanding martial art skill? This is an empty city, what excitement could she possibly want to enjoy?”
Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “I have some kind of inauspicious premonition; this Guniang appears to have subtle relationship with us.”
Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong asked, “Inauspicious?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Xu Ziling said, “This is purely a feeling, I don’t have any logical explanation. He who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come [idiom: Be careful not to trust strangers]; we’d better not come across her.”
Kou Zhong said, “Let Xiaodi makes brief analysis: the reason Ling Shao has inauspicious feeling is because her skill is exceptionally brilliant, plus she must be coming here for Yuwen Huagu; hence from head to foot she appeared murderous looking, which made you, LaoGe has an inauspicious feeling. Is that right?”
Xu Ziling shook his head and said, “She did not exude half a thread of vicious impression, her movements were even more like moving clouds and flowing water, pleasing to the eyes. Ay! But looking at her posture and shenfa, I have a feeling that I’ve seen it before, but where in the world did I see it?”
Kou Zhong accompanied him thinking deeply. “She is coming for Yuwen Huagu, and her shenfa gives you a déjà vu; who might she be?”
The two boys were severely shaken at the same time, and looked at each other.
Kou Zhong sucked in a mouthful of cold air and said, “It can’t be this much of a coincidence, can it? As soon as we spoke about Cao Cao, Cao Cao came.”
“Must be her,” Xu Ziling said, “But she is more brilliant compared to Niang.”
The two boys recalled Fu Junchuo’s little martial sister, the ‘Yijian Dashi’ Fu Cailin’s last disciple Fu Junqiang. Only she matched these conditions.
Were it not for not long ago Zhang Jinshu mentioned her name, they would never have guessed that it was she.
Just like them, Fu Junqiang also wanted to take advantage while Yuwen Huagu had not perished to give him bad luck.
Xu Ziling wrung his wrists and said with a sigh, “It’s good that we remember her earlier! Now it’s a close shave.”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Don’t forget your inauspicious feeling. Gaoli people can’t possibly have good impression on us, Han people. Besides, they misunderstood that we implicated Niang that brought her to her death, and now we have one more guilt in stealing the treasure.”
Xu Ziling said, “What I am most afraid of is that she is flaunting her bravery and forcefully charging into the Imperial Palace. It would be very bad if she came across Yuwen Shang, while Yuwen Huagu is also not easy to deal with at all.”
“it’s useless to think too much,” Kou Zhong said, “Let’s enter the Palace to look for our Hou Gongzi first and then we’ll talk some more.”
In term of scale, Yuwen Huaji’s imperial palace was only one-fourth of Luoyang’s Palace City; it was merely an expansion of former Zongguan [chief, manager] of the Sui dynasty, particularly the reinforcement of the external wall, by making it higher and thicker, and by installing sentry towers.
Following the instructions, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling dug a terrain map of the Wei Palace buried next to a tree behind the Palace City. When they spread it out to take a look, on the left and right surprisingly were two dragons. One was bold and powerful, as if soaring high, ready to pounce. The other was up high in the distant cloud, in an unrestrained scene. The painting was vivid and raw.
Laughing hoarsely, Kou Zhong said, “Good kid, he drew me like I am about to eat people. I will have to find him to give him bad luck later, to see what kind of thing his Bu Si Yin Fa training has made him.”
Sneering, Xu Ziling said, “This is called you are being a thief lacking in confidence; how come you don’t think that the dragon soaring in the cloud riding in the mist is you?”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “This is both being a thief lacking in confidence and also knowing oneself. Since childhood I have always been an ambitious person; all day long I instigated you to join the militia, I also forced you to learn martial art by stealing, to listen respectfully to Bai Laofuzi teaching people to read the scripture. Moreover, today I am sucking you into the struggle to contend for hegemony over the world. How could I have the qualifications to be a free and unfettered, frolicking-in-comfort dragon?”
The two hid in the dark shadow of the tree. Focusing their power into their eyes, they scanned the situation inside the Wei Palace for Hou Xibai’s whereabouts.
Obviously the Wei Army’s strength was seriously inadequate. Even an important place like the Palace, the surrounding guards were only going through the motions. In the two boys’ eyes, it was tantamount to no defense at all.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling jumped over the wall to enter the Palace; they still did not dare to be careless, because Hou Xibai’s map indicated more than a dozen points of hidden sentry posts. One careless move and they would be found.
A moment later the two boys sneaked into the small building at the north courtyard where Hou Xibai was staying; it was an exquisite, two-story small house from which came the faint sound of people talking. Crossing a willow grove, they came to the back of the house. Focusing their attention, they happened to hear Hou Xibai’s voice talking, “Just one more day and it should be finished!”
A female voice responded with a ‘Hmm’ but she did not say anything; and then they heard the light footsteps of someone leaving.
Able to easily, without any hitch, find Hou Xibai like this, the two boys were excited. As soon as the maids and attendants also left from the front door, they hurriedly slipped into the hall via the window.
The east wall of the hall was completely covered by a silk painting hanging down from the ceiling. The color painting was dominated by a life-sized woman in luxurious attire. The creases, the lines, and the forms, none was not elaborate and meticulous. She was standing directly facing out of the screen. The background was a vibrant spring or summer countryside, dotted with deer, sheep, rabbits, blackbirds, and other tame animals. The painting of the beauty was nearing completion, the face has been sketched out, the only thing lacking was the eyes, ears, mouth and nose, leaving only a weird-looking blank face.
Under Hou Xibai’s wonder brush, the beauty in the painting displayed graceful, elegant posture and graceful bearing. Although they could not see her facial features yet, they could already feel that she was an extraordinarily moving beauty.
This moment Hou Xibai was seeing Madame Wei [different character from ‘Wei’ State] off. When he stepped into the hall, he suddenly saw the two boys. “Two gentlemen finally arrived!” he spoke in great delight.
Pointing to the silk painting, Kou Zhong wondered, “Are you leaving her appearance for last? If there is any slight mistake, wouldn’t all these efforts be wasted?”
Hou Xibai stood between the two. He sighed and said, “Kou Laoxiong, you did not know it, but Xiaodi has a very bad habit; when I paint, I have to do it in one go; only then will I be able to catch her charm [orig. shenyun – charm or grace in poetry or art], moreover, I can grasp that charm at once. Just like when in a spurt of energy, the strength is waning or the power exhausted, it will be difficult to continue. Therefore, this time I adopt the shape-first-spirit-later approach, by spending considerable time in the tedious features before plucking the charm at the last moment. This is also a way within no way.”
Xu Ziling said, “Hou Xiong’s color painting of beauties is unique, but I still like your ink freehand-style [of Chinese painting, characterized by bold strokes rather than accurate details] beauty portraits better, like the painting you did on your Fan of Beauty.”
Lowering his voice, Hou Xibai said, “This may very well be a funerary object to be hung inside the tomb; naturally it has to be colorful, garish and beautiful, extremely luxurious.”
Hearing that, the two looked at each other in dismay. Kou Zhong sucked in a mouthful of cold air, “Yuwen Huagu is going to kill himself?” he wondered.
“I am just making a wild guess,” Hou Xibai replied, “Ay! That Wei Furen … that Wei Furen indeed invokes my pity, no wonder Yuwen Huaji is showing such yearning and cherishing heart toward her. To be honest with gentlemen, when I was painting her, I had the urge to hide and distance myself from her as far away as possible, just because when you are getting rid of Yuwen Huaji, I don’t want to see the mournful and tragic situation where she is in so much pain that she does not want to live anymore.”
Empathizing with him, Xu Ziling said, “I am really sorry to trouble Hou Xiong; for no reason at all you are being sucked into the gratitude and grudges between us and Yuwen Huagu. If Hou Xiong wants to stay away from this place, we will definitely not blame you.”
Smiling ruefully, Hou Xibai said, “This is an old weakness; I cannot see women suffer a calamity. Two gentlemen, don’t worry. I, Hou Xibai am coming from Hua Jian Pai, where killing people is not a big deal. People often have strange ideas, only rarely they put it into practice. One time I tried to pick up a precious and fragile ancient dynasty’s porcelain dish, and suddenly had the urge to throw it into smithereens; fortunately it was purely an idea in my mind, yet I shuddered whenever I had such a crazy thought.”
Slapping his thigh, Kou Zhong said, “Well said. When I was a teenager, I saw a beautiful woman on the street, I also had an urge to touch her; only because I remembered that the consequences were grave that I did not dare to do it. It is no different than Xibai’s desire to smash the treasured china. I thought I was a big bad egg [scoundrel], turns out it is a human nature. Only when we are able to suppress the urge will we be considered normal.”
Hou Xibai agreed. He said, “That is how a tyrant came to be; simply because he is not afraid of any consequences, and no one dares to stop him, in the end he became a madman, someone like Yang Guang.”
“Where is Yuwen Huagu?” Xu Ziling asked.
Hou Xibai replied, “The day before yesterday he was defeated in Weixian and was returning to Xucheng; I have not had any chance to see him.”
Kou Zhong said, “There don’t seem to be many people in the palace; where did the imperial concubines and palace maids go?”
Hou Xibai replied, “From the information I gathered, most of the Yuwen Clan people, from top to bottom, have moved to Wuyang, to witness Yuwen Shiji, the defender of Wuyang – surrendering to the House of Tang.”
Kou Zhong said, “Your guess is spot on. I wonder if Yuwen Shang, that old chap – is also running for his life to Wuyang?”
Hou Xibai said, “Yuwen Shang shouldn’t be here. Among the four major clans’ Clan Masters, this man’s martial art skill is second only to the ‘Heavenly Saber’ Song Que. When coming across him, two Dage must be a bit more careful.”
Heaving a sigh of relief, Kou Zhong said, “Yuwen Huagu is certainly strung through and filled with evil. Now the Wei Palace is already lacking martial art masters, it is just like an empty house with a subpar defense system. We will kill him tonight; with him, there is nothing good to say.”
Hou Xibai was about to speak, suddenly from the other side of the palace came the sound of gongs and drums and alarm bells, followed by a commotion; some people even cried out, “Assassin!”
Shaken, Kou Zhong said, “Niang’s formidable Xiao Shimei is here!”
